BIRDS. OMNIVO&J. 



ish below ; head naked on both sides ; breast, wing, and tail-fea- 

 thers blackish brown. Ten inches long. Inhabits Philippine Isl- 

 ands. Shaw, vii. pi. 36. 



P. tristis, Tern. (Paradisea tristis, Lin.) Plumage brown ; head 

 and neck blackish; a naked triangular red space behind each eye ; 

 a white spot at the tip of the wing and tail-feathers. Nine in- 

 ches long. Inhabits Philippine Islands. Buff. PI. Enl. 219. 



P. cristatellus , Tern. (Gracula cristatella, Lin.) Plumage black, 

 with frontal crest ; base of the primaries and apex of the tail-fea- 

 thers white; bill yellow. 8^ inches long. China. Shaw, vii. pi. 55. 



P. gallinaceus, Tern. (Gracula carunculata, Gmel.) Plumage ash- 

 coloured ; circle round the eyes naked ; base of the inferior man- 

 dible with a double wattle ; head with a yellow, erect bifid mem- 

 branaceous crest. Six inches long. Inhabits Cape of Good Hope. 

 Lath. 2nd. 324. 



P. pagodarum, Tern. (Turdus pagodarum, Lath.) Crest grayish; 

 body, wings, and tail black; belly streaked with white; vent white; 

 feathers of the neck long ; bill black ; legs yellow. Inhabits In- 

 dia. Lath. Ind. 332. 



Gen. 19. PARADISEA, Lin. 



Bill of medium size, straight, quadrangular, pointed, a little con- 

 vex above, compressed; ridge between the feathers of the fore- 

 head ; nostrils basal, marginal, open, but entirely concealed 

 by the feathers ; legs short ; tarsus longer than the middle 

 toe; lateral toe unequal, the internal one united to the second 

 joint ; back toe longer than the others, robust ; wings with the 

 five first feathers staged ; the sixth or seventh longest. 



P. apoda, Lin. (P. major, Shaw.) Great Bird of Paradise. Plum- 

 age cinnamon-coloured ; throat golden green ; head luteous ; side 

 feathers extremely long, floating, yellow, the two intermediate 

 tail-feathers long, setaceous. Length from bill to tip of side fea- 

 thers about two feet. Inhabits the Moluccas. Shaw, vii. pi. 58. 

 The name Apoda applied to this beautiful bird had its rise from the specimens pro- 

 cured by the early travellers having the feet cut off; and of course all the stories of 

 these birds perpetually floating in the atmosphere, or suspending themselves, for a 

 short time, by the naked shafts, and that they never descended to the earth till their 

 death, are founded in fable. The great birds of paradise are found in the Molucca 

 islands, and in those surrounding New Guinea, particularly Papua and Am, where 

 they arrive with the westerly, or dry monsoon, and whence they return to New Guinea, 

 on the setting in of the easterly, or wet monsoon. They are seen going and returning 

 in flights of thirty or forty, conducted by a leader, which flies higher than the rest, 

 and crying like starlings in their progress, preserving their light plumage by inva- 

 riably moving against the wind. Their food is not known with certainty. 



P. minor, Shaw. Plumage cinnamon-coloured, with luteous crown 

 and back, and gold-green throat ; side-feathers yellow, extremely 

 long and floating. 18 inches in total length. New Guinea. 



P. sanguinea, Shaw. Plumage cinnamon -coloured, with luteous 

 occiput and back, gold-green front, and long floating sanguine- 



